times as he down played whatthec.i.a. wasputting in the report, what they actually came out with, who was to blame for the conclusions that proved to be faulty. >>steve: any time there is a question asked of jay carney and it is something prepared for, if you notice, he reads a card off the top of his lectern. he's got things he's supposed to say. he is just the mouthpiece for this administration. it is the job of the white house press corps to ask the really tough questions. it is interesting because people are starting to wake up in the mainstream media -- thank goodness. maureen dowd yesterday wrote the administration's behavior before and during the attack in benghazi in which four americans died was unworthy of the greatest power on earth. there were other people in the mainstream media going we kind of trusted these guys. maybe we shouldn't have. >>brian: pickering is pushing back hard. former secretary of defense gates yesterday came forward. he said if i was secretary of defense, i wouldn't have sent an f-16 over there because i was afraid shoulder fire missiles might take the

of his disguise allegedly trying to recruit a russian forthecia. 29-year-oldryan fogle, a junior level diplomat caught with sunglasses, maps, money, offering up to $1 million a year, instructions for opening a gmail account. russians released him to the u.s. embassy. he'll probably be sent home. at washington's spy museum a former cia spy says it happens all the time. >> i've used disguise. sometimes something as simple as a wig and glasses will do that. even though it may look sort of corny, or sixth grade to people, it can work. >> reporter: russians call it provocative. u.s. officials don't believe it will set back communications, the boston bombing and standoff in syria. secretary of state meeting with russian counterpart in sweden, presumably not trading spy story. for "today," andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington. >>> the widow of the boston bombing suspect tamerlan tsarnaev will cooperate with investigators according to new attorney that has defended several suspects before. russell has not been charged but the legal team has yet to release details of what she saw in the days l

used by u.n. ambassador susan rice that ultimately removed any reference to al qaeda orpreviousciawarningsin the region. a senior intelligence official telling nbc news deputy cia director mike morell crossed out those references on this early draft. but morell's then boss david petraeus seemed to disagree with the watered down version that excluded any mention of security warnings. writing, frankly, i'd just as soon not use this. republicans accused the white house of playing politics right before the election. >> you don't have to be sherlock holmes to figure this out. the story of benghazi if accurately reported would undercut the narrative, al qaeda's on the run and they manipulated the evidence to help the political reelection. >> the white house says no political advisers were involved in the process. and following the justice department's widely criticized seizure of journalist phone records, the white house wednesday pressed congress to revive a law that would protect reporters from having to reveal information in the future. the white house is also going to face head-on

of a highly classified effort to foil a terror plot. >> officials tellusciathwartedan al qaeda plot in yemen to detonate a bomb of a powerful explosive. >> reporter: at the time, fbi director robert mueller strongly condemned the leak. a leak like this is explosive. >> reporter: according to "a.p.," among the lines tracked were office and personal numbers of "a.p." reporters and editors, including their home and cell phone numbers. and main numbers used by the u.s. house of representatives. there was no actual listening in on calls, the ap says. ap gary pruitt says it's amounting to serious interference. advocates for journalistic freedom agree. >> the fact it was so broad, so many phone lines over a two month period and they made no attempt to negotiate to get any kind of information beforehand is outrageous. >> reporter: a former cia spokesman said leak investigations are demanding but he's surprised by the scope of this one. >> it tells me this is a very significant case in the government's eyes and willing to take the heat they will take from the news media in order to track dow